These carrot muffins are delicious on their own, but the smooth honey butter takes them to another level. Serve them up at your next family brunch, or couple with a skim latte, Greek yogurt or eggs, and you’ve got a delicious and filling breakfast in a flash. You could also make a batch for yourself and stash the muffins in the freezer so you can enjoy a quick, homemade snack in the weeks ahead.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour (or ½ cup whole wheat flour plus ½ cup all-purpose flour)
• ½ cup rolled oats, dry
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
• 2½ cups grated carrots (about 5 medium carrots)
• ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon honey, divided
• 2 egg whites, at room temperature*
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce, at room temperature*
• 2 Tablespoons melted butter, plus 1/4 cup unsalted whipped butter at room temperature, divided

Preparation:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with paper muffin liners (or coat with oil spray) and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ½ teaspoon kosher salt. Whisk all of the dry ingredients until they are evenly mixed. Then, add the grated carrots and stir to combine. This will ensure that the carrot shreds are evenly distributed in the finished muffins.

In another mixing bowl, whisk together ½ cup honey, egg whites, vanilla extract, applesauce and melted butter until thoroughly combined.

Add the honey-applesauce mixture to the flour-carrot mixture and stir with a rubber spatula until you can no longer see any flour. Be careful not to overmix.

Scoop about ¼ cup of muffin batter into each of the prepared muffin cups. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, turning muffin tin halfway through.

Meanwhile, to make the honey butter, mix whipped butter with remaining 1 tablespoon honey and 1/8 teaspoon salt until well combined. Serve with carrot muffins and enjoy!

Serving size: 1 muffin with 1 teaspoon honey butter